Mastodon: Epic Wail

Bill, other than that Yamaha
you mentioned, what guitars
did you use for The Hunter?
Kelliher: My main guitar is a ’74
Gibson Les Paul Custom 20th
Anniversary tobacco burst that I
recently had refretted and set up
with all new hardware and volume
and tone pots by the Gibson
USA Custom Shop. They put in
their killer ’57 Classic humbuckers,
too. I also got turned on to a
Fender Jim Root Telecaster that
Jim gave me. It has EMG 81 and
60 pickups, but it still has the
Telecaster twang to it—especially
when you play close to the bridge.
I was surprised. I used that on the
intro to “All the Heavy Lifting”—
where it has all those high
notes—and then again on “Black
Tongue,” where Brann’s double-bass
part goes, I added some high
notes into the mix with it, too.

What about amps?

Kelliher: I used my old, 2-channel
Marshall JCM800s, because
I always find myself going back
to those amps for my tone. I
really like the punch they offer
and how I can cut through
and be heard between Brann’s
crazy drumming, Brent’s riffs,
and Troy’s bass lines. I used my
100-watt Marshall Kerry King
JCM800 for layering and a few
other parts, but the main parts
were recorded with the old
JCM800s. All my amps went
through this beat up Marshall
1960B 4x12 loaded with 20-watt
Celestions. I love trying new gear
all the time, but I always seem to
come back to the Marshalls.
Hinds: I used a lot of amps for
The Hunter—a Diezel VH4,
an Orange Rockerverb 50, a
Marshall 100-watt JMP Mark
II Lead Series head, and an ’80s
JCM800—but the one I used the
most was a ’70 Fender silverface
Princeton Reverb. No matter what
guitar I used with that Princeton,
it sounded and performed the
best—especially for my single-note
runs and clean, textural parts. For
the heavier, chunky riffs and distorted
solos, I used the big monster
heads. I’m old-school like that.

Tell us about the cool, slow
warble effect you get with your
wah on “Dry Bone Valley.”

Hinds: To be considered a bona
fide guitarist, you need to record
one wah song. I’m starting to get
pretty fond of it—I might start
wearing bell-bottoms [laughs].
That slow sweep combined with
some serious hammer-ons at the
beginning are my favorite—it’s
like a helicopter swooping down
to capture swimmers in Niagara
Falls. Jerry Cantrell got me one
of his signature Jim Dunlop
Crybaby wahs, and I figured
“Dry Bone Valley” has the perfect
swaggering, galloping vibe to the
chorus and verses that leads right
up to the wah solo perfectly.

Did either of you use any
other effects on the album?
Kelliher: Probably the only effect
I used was my original Ibanez
Tube King, for when I really want
to take it over the top and soar.

Hinds: I have an old Ibanez
TS9 Tube Screamer, a Visual
Sound Route 66 overdrive,
a Boss RE-20 Space Echo, a
Boss DD-6 Digital Delay, a
Custom Audio Electronics
Boost/Overdrive, a Morpheus
DropTune, and a personal
favorite is the Monster Effects
Mastortion, which my friend
John Spears built for me.
It’s basically a TS808 Tube
Screamer clone with more volume
and low-end power.

Mastodon’s guitar sound has
evolved over the years from a
fast, sludgy barrage to a more
melodic and subdued aggression.
What do you attribute that to?
Hinds: We used keyboards all over
Crack the Skye, and again with The
Hunter. Keyboards and organs add
another dimension that can’t be
achieved with anything else. They
give us this old-school, classic-rock
vibe that we really want to be a
part of the band. I’m sure some
metal fans laugh at the organ and
its spot in Mastodon, but it’s a
badass instrument.

I love playing fast and
heavy like we did on Call of the
Mastodon and Remission, and
we’ll always have that metal
feel—because we all love it—
but adding the melodies and
harmonies, and diversifying our
sound all the way up to Crack
the Skye has made us a better
band. The band we became during
those sessions was where I
saw us going years ago, but we
had to experiment and find it
ourselves instead of forcing the
issue. And with The Hunter,
it was about incorporating all
the elements from our previous
records and our collective and
individual influences, and bringing
it together for a fun, good-time,
party record. The Hunter
represents Mastodon’s full body
of work.

Chris has degrees in Journalism and History from the University of Iowa and has been with PG dating back to his days as an intern in 2007. Since then, he's become Associate Editor and done almost everything—including overseeing web content/article creation, video shooting/editing, and writing artist features and music reviews. He spends his free time with his pitbull Doozy, collecting tattoos, trying his hand at being a hipster by gathering vinyl. He's one of the lone sports nuts on staff and cheers on the Cubs, Cowboys, and Michigan Wolverines. Oh yeah, he of course enjoys making noise on the guitar. Follow Chris on Twitter.

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